Burial Duty
by Liisiko
Summary: People's actions are not always easy to predict, but that's not always a bad thing, and even when you shouldn't sometimes you find support and friendship from sources you don't expect.


Author's note: I have had this idea bouncing around in my head for a while now, and might as well give it a try. There are some spoilers ahead but nothing that someone reading the manga shouldn't have already seen.

Burial Duty

You can never be completely sure how someone will react to any given situation until you see it for your self.

This is the conclusion Sasuke Uchiha came to as he dug a hole not far from the system of caves where he had been staying for the last two days. He was tired and aching all over. This was the only reason he missed Orochimaru's presence in his mind and body, the rapid healing had been a huge advantage. He hadn't recovered physically or emotionally from his most recent fight.

The injuries his body had received would heal with time.

The rest he wasn't so sure about.

He had never felt this bad before.

Not when he had considered killing his best friend for power.

Not when he had walked away from his home and the people he had come to care about.

Not during the two years he had spent with a monster.

Not even when he had seen his brother destroy their entire family.

Not when he had relived their deaths a second time.

This was far worse, all of the other events had been terrible. There was absolutely no denying that. But after each of these things there had been something he could do, some purpose he could dedicate his life to achieving at all costs.

He had finally accomplished the only goal he had in life. Kill Itachi Uchiha, the traitor who had taken away everything he loved.

But there was one fact that made all the years of planning, all the hours spent training, all the hate he felt for his brother absolutely useless.

He had killed the person who had loved him the most.

The person who had been looking out for him his entire life.

And that hurt worse than anything else.

He still wished that Madara had been lying to him, that it was all one terrible joke.

But it wasn't.

So here he was digging a hole to bury his brother.

Itachi's former partner had offered to do this, but Sasuke had flatly refused. This was something he wanted to do him self.

He was almost half way done when he stopped to take a break and realized that he was being watched. He turned around to see who it was and saw Karin standing there.

"What do you want?" He asked flatly. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Karin's clingy attitude and creepy advances today.

"Do you need any help?" She asked him in an unusually quiet tone of voice.

He considered telling her to go away but realized that he may not want help, but he would most likely need some help filling in the grave that he had spent most of that afternoon digging. She took his silence as a yes and picked up the shovel that he had been using earlier.

He had filled his team in on the whole story this morning. But hadn't given them a chance to ask the questions that he had no answer for himself, and had left as soon as he had finished explaining what had happened while they were separated.

While Karin was digging Jugo and Suigetsu came out to join them. No one said anything. None of them even knew what to say, or if Sasuke even wanted them around any more. Technically their mission had been finished two days ago. The three of them took turns digging until the hole was deep enough.

After they lowered the body into the grave everyone just stood there for a moment. The silence became even more uncomfortable. The only sounds were the wind in the trees and a few birds.

"You um..... Picked a nice place." Jugo said after a moment.

"Yeah."

This was unusual. Normally his team couldn't go more than twenty minuets with out something happening. Karin was either flirting with him or finding some excuse to attack Suigetsu. Suigetsu was either slurping down water or making Karin angry. And when that wasn't happening Jugo was having a homicidal out burst or talking to birds.

But everyone standing quietly and offering their support. This was not at all whet he expected from his team.

This was just plain weird.

He was not sure if he liked this attitude. It would be best for all of them if they didn't get to attached to each other.

But that was the least of his problems. He could worry about his teams odd behavior later. He had a meeting with Madara tonight and between now and then he had a lot of thinking to do.

While Sasuke watched they filled in the grave. Afterward everyone looked at him waiting for some sort of instructions.

"Lets go inside." He finally said.

While they were walking back behind him Suigetsu said something that was followed by a thud, a splash and a shriek of anger from Karin. He relaxed slightly after that.

You can never be entirely sure how someone will react to something, and he wasn't sure what the future held.

But at least one thing was still the same in his life.

End

Thank you to everyone who read my last story, your support was really encouraging.

Like everyone else I would love some reviews.


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